It was possible to enucleate elbow joint mice arthroscopically in 2 cases using a Watanabe No. 24 arthroscope, the main advantage of which was to enable patients to resume their work routine as early as possible.
Case 1. A male (16 years old) had played softball from 4th grade to 6th grade in elementary school. Around September 1986, while throwing handball, his right elbow began to ache, a symptom which disappeared after three days, and during the first ten days of November, 1987, painful movement and limited elbow motion occurred at the elbow joint. The faint, transparent pictures of the capitulum humeri and several joint mice were examined by radiography, and the condition was diagnosed as osteochondritis dissecans of the right elbow. This condition was further examined arthroscopically using a posterior radial approach, and the joint mice were enucleated, using a supraolecranal radial approach. The occurrence of limited elbow motion and the painful movement disappeared 6 days after surgery, which enabled the patient to leave the hospital to resume his daily work routine successfully.
Case 2. The right elbow of a 28-year-old male began to ache without any apparent cause during 1985, thereafter, locking syndrome occurred several times a year, but the faint transparent pictures of the capitulum humeri and the joint mouse were examined by radiography, and the condition was diagnosed as osteochondritis dissecans. Enucleation of the joint mouse was therefore performed using an arthroscope adopting a similar approach as for case 1. The painful movement and limited elbow motion disappeared 3 days after surgery, which resulted in the patient resuming his daily work routine.
